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Category 6 ride led by Kevin McPheat
 

The Epic of the Ten Merry Men: A Cat 6 Odyssey:

Sing, O Muse, of the ten who from Allenburys’ gates did ride,

At the ninth hour of morn, their wheels glinting in the watery sun,

Bound for Mill End, that distant café of cakes and tea.

Lo! Their leader, noble yet fallible, erred in his wisdom—

For upon his Strava, the sacred route was wrongfully inscribed!

A grievous blunder, yet met with laughter, not scorn.

Category 6 ride led by Ian Bailey

Category 6 ride led by Ian Bailey

The ride began almost on time as Daniel Horn (born 1961) arrived at the start in Much Hadham almost on time.  The ride leader had earlier been almost on time arriving at the meeting point for the hardy riders starting the pre-ride in Ware. We were wind-propelled through the Herts and Essex countryside, pausing only to reflect on the future of humanity in the event of the development of general artificial intelligence.

Category 6 ride led by Ian Bailey

Six riders left Ware at precisely half past eight to embark on the epic widescreen director’s cut version of the route to Thremhall Park. We arrived just two minutes late at the appointed meeting place for Daniel (born 1961) to join us; we had been delayed by deer crossing the road.

We then followed a winding route, taking in a trip through the centre of Bishops Stortford and a wide circuit of Stansted Airport, keeping our heads down as low flying airliners passed overhead.

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Just two of us, both fresh from featuring in the club hill-climb. Sadly, Brian's speed up Robins Nest Hill was about 25% faster than mine, so poor Brian was in for a lot of dawdling while I did my best to keep up. Neither of us was helped by the  strong westerly which was sometimes enough to turn a gentle climb into a challenge.

Category 6 ride led by Ian Bailey
With most of the regular category 6 riders either making sandcastles or connecting electricity to a cave, a very select group set off just after dawn from Ware. Exceptionally, the group featured only one Kevin. 

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Seven riders today - Hurrah! The route to Café 19 in Duxford was from the club's RWGPS archive, at least it was until I decided to give it a little tweak to include a favourite road. Sadly the tweak also routed us down an apparently notorious piece of road which seemed more suitable for a tank proving ground than a bike route. Don't tweak!

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

A nice sunny September day and a pleasant ride, much of it over the flat-lands of Essex. We welcomed back Augirdas Panka after a long absence. He and his spectacular Cinelli were both in good working order. 

Category 6 ride led by Ian Bailey

Ten riders turned out at the shockingly early hour of half past eight, despite yellow weather warnings for rain and wind, for an early assault on Mount Robins Nest and elevenses at the golf club.

Category 6 ride led by Claire Gopolous

A band of seven happy, if slightly jaded, souls met at Allenbury’s just before 8, missing Tony, our leader, who was feeling sadly under the weather. Claire stepped in to lead the ride to Bretts Café and set off promptly using her excellent navigation skills. Obviously, having the route pre-loaded on Garmin helped a bit.

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Seven riders today - Hurrah! The route to Café 19 in Duxford was from the club's RWGPS archive, at least it was until I decided to give it a little tweak to include a favourite road. Sadly the tweak also routed us down an apparently notorious piece of road which seemed more suitable for a tank proving ground than a bike route. Don't tweak!

Laura and Brian rode. Laura 26:40, Brian 28:26.

It's getting tight between the men and the women!

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Barry was the only Wheeler! He produced an excellent time of 25:33 and increaseed his lead at the top of the men's table.

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Claire is well ahead, Barry leads the men. The women are well ahead!

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Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Last week's road closure saw us hacking our way through swampy pampas grass past a flood in order to avoid going back down the long hill we had just come up. This week we were confronted by a giant chasm in the road up to the Dream Bean café. The proprietors of this hole had surrounded it with tall metal fences and omitted to leave any convenient corridor for cyclists and pedestrians.

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Just three riders again for cat 3 after a recent flurry of increased numbers. We must rely on quality not quantity, therefore. The three who turned up were, at any rate, brave enough to defy forecasts of thunder, lightning and torrential rain - none of which materialised.

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos 

If this were a daily tabloid the strap line would be “It’s all about Kev”. Intrigued? Read on. 

The National 400K Audax took place this year on the weekend of 28th June. It started in Great Dunmow and followed a route described as "a tour of Essex, based on the Kingdom of the East Saxons route, featuring chalk uplands, market towns, Constable Country, the ancient port of Harwich (home of the Mayflower), the Sunshine Coast and many estuaries."

Round 7 on 17th June saw Oliver Lea and Claire Gopoulos competing with Oliver (26:27) coming in ahead of Claire (27:50).

Claire (60 points) has extended her lead over Davina Gutteridge (27 points) in the women's competition. Lea (10 points) is now second behind Barry Page (20 points) in the men's table.

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

This was our second successive foray into the Chilterns (Pyreneen trip looming for some of us!) 

This time we started in Ware under gathering clouds which delivered rain once we reached Hertford. This persisted while we bounced uncomfortably over what passes for a road surface on the B1000 to Welwyn but soon eased off.